The birds have been looking for new places to perch. I added some bamboo bars to serve as practice roosting bars. While the various chicks have been standing on them for a couple of days, today I saw the Barred Rock sitting down on the bar.In the next photo, the Silver Laced Wyandotte is perched on the feeder. Incidentally, the birds seem to be eating constantly. In 10 days, I've gone through 5 pounds of chick food. And how do they eat and chirp at the same time? It seems that every waking moment, the birds are chirping. The chirp is pleasant, not loud.
This weekend Damon was at the Maker Faire, so he didn't work on the coop. Today he started nailing up the ha
rdware cloth (with smaller holes than chicken wire so rats can't get in the coop). I will post a picture of it next time.
And here is what the Silver Laced Wyandotte should look like (top) and the Barred Rock (bottom). Both hens should lay an average of 4 brown eggs per week. While the Barred Rock is "calm, plucky, and docile" the Wyandotte is generally easy-going with a tendency towards domination. In fact, even as a chick, this bird seems to be in charge of the rabbit cage. But look how pretty she'll become!
Carabiners are a good idea for the locks too. I think they are one of the few devices raccoons can't figure out. Lining the surrounding ground in and out of the coop with gravels helps prevent digging too. We have lost 3 chickens to raccoons.
ReplyDeleteGood to know about the carainers! We will also dig a trench around the coop and line it with the hardware cloth or chicken wire to help prevent animals digging through. We generally don't have raccoons in this neighborhood, though we did in our last neighborhood (and skunks!). We are further from the creek over here.
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